Karen Shady

I am a happily married mum to 5 children, we own a large cropping farm in Victoria, Australia. Scrapbooking is my 'happy place' and this is where I share my creations. Thank you for visiting, and please stay a while and look around.

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Sunday, September 18, 2011

good news, bad news

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful weekend wherever you are. Its a beautiful spring day here in Victoria, and all is good :)
Im excited :) My layout was voted as a featured layouts for this months challege over at Once Upon A Sketch. The quality of the work submitted for the challenge was outstanding, so i am very honoured to be have been chosen. Thankyou ladies x

This is my layout for those who didnt see it.

Now, I have some slightly sad new to share. Unfortunately, I have had to resign from Kaisercraft as a designer. As most of you know, my husband and I run a very large cropping farm, and I have 5 kids as well, and well, the workload at Kaisercraft was just far more than I was able to do at this time in my life. Im sad I had to leave, but Im also relieved, and am looking forward to being able to do some scrapping just for me, and having the time to play along with some more challenges.

Heres another layout nI did, which was published in SCRAPBOOKING MEMORIES, I actually had 2 published in this issue, but I cant seem to find a pic of the other one, so will have to show that one next time. This layout is a very special one for me..Its a photo of my Gandparents on their wedding day in 1940. My Grandpop was home on leave from WW2, they got married and he was shipped off the New Guinea a few days later. He was captured by the Japanese, and was taken to Changi, to work on the Burmese railway, he was there for 4 years. He didnt see my Grandmother all that time, and she didnt know if he was alive or dead. By the time they saw eachother again, their first son, my Dad was nearly 4 years old !!

AN ADDIT TO THIS POST :)
The latest Pencillines sketch went live this morning. And it is a stunning one this week.Head over to the blog for the details on how you can win some fantastic prizes. Heres the sketch

And heres my Design team take on it

Thankyou everyone for calling in, and please leave me a message if you do xx. I love to read them :)

22 comments:

Karen, its sad you won't be designing for Kaiser but sometimes life does force us to make hard decisions. Glad you are feeling relieved and cannot wait to see your future work. Love your featured layout so much! xo

Hi Karen....Yes sad that you have resigned at Kaiser...your lovely work will be surely missed. BUT I always believe and live by the saying Family First. Your featured LO was just beautiful. Enjoy the time with your precious family. x

hi... oh these layouts are stunning... and well done on getting published.. ( a dream of mine one day!!haha!!) and i am sure you agonized over your decision with Kaiser, i am sure they understand.. if only we could put scrapping first, but family and life come first and for me scrapping is what i do when i can escape for a while!!i am sure you will continue to enjoy scrapping more without the pressures of deadlines, and thank you for the wonderful creations i have seen from you on the kaiser blob.. look forward to seeing what you come up with next...xx

Wow, this post has given me shivers all over. First of all, Congrats on your feature. It was just stunning.Secondly, so sorry you are leaving Kaisercraft. I loved seeing your work but I can understand that although a hard decision, one you had to make. And 5 kids, well I thought 4 was busy but having 5 and a farm, how do you do it?And the story of your grandparents, well that's when I got the shivers. That is such a sad but romantic story. Wow, what a special page.

Hi Karen. So sad you wont be at Kaiser anymore, I so love your style! I am not surprised though...I noticed your photo was no longer up with the other designers. That got me wondering...I new you have 5 kids & had wondered how you were mananging. A year ago I was in a similiar situation re work & I havent regretted my decision to take a step back at all. All the best, Lisa x Love your take on the pencil lines sketch!

Oh Karen I am so sorry to hear you are stepping down at Kaisercraft! I really enjoyed you seeing your creations but I totally understand that sometimes its just not the right time in our lives! You always need to do what's best for you and your family! Just adore the last layout...how adorable are those photos! :))xx

Firstly huge congrats on your feature at OUAS! That is a truly beautiful layout!! Sorry to hear you have resigned at Kaiser, however I completely support your decision to do so. You have to do what's right for you x

Congrats on your gorgeous featured layout Karen... and the one of your grandpaents is stunning!

Sorry to hear about you leaving Kaiser. I understand how hard the stuggle is to find a balance sometimes and I guess you have to weigh up what suffers in the end. Good on you for making what I'm sure was not an easy decision.

And your pencil lines sketch and layout ... wowser, loving that ... what fabulous photos you have scrapped.

And I just read about Kaisercraft as well ... sometimes some pretty tough decisions have to be made for many different reasons ... but I'm sure that when the time is right again, they will definitely have you back. Your creativity absolutely rocks all. the. time!!!!